Google Analytics 101 - Setting Goals and User Tips - Part 4 of 4
Use your Google Goal conversion effectively, and other user tips. In this episode, we discuss setting and tracking goal conversion, and other user tips including traffic filtering.
Google Analytics 101 - Analyze Traffic Sources, Content, and Navigation - Part 3 of 4
Use your Google Traffic Sources, Content, and Navigation reports effectively. In this episode, we discuss the different sources of traffic, tracking content performance and analyzing visitor navigation.
Size matters: What screen resolution should my website be designed for?
The wild world of web design quickly changes with the evolution of the hardware and software it runs on. A five year old car still has a long life ahead, while a five year old website is long past its prime.
One of the most significant hardware changes in the last 5 years is the ever-increasing screen resolution (measured in pixels, such as 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high). Big, bulky CRT monitors have given way to sleek, thin flat-panel LCD’s . With this transition, screen resolutions have also changed, most notably the emergence of 1024×768 and the disappearance of 800×600.
W3C Schools, part of the main international web standards organization (W3C) , reported that in 2003 almost half of its visitors were on the 800×600 screen resolution. That number has now dropped to 8%. The statistics for our website for 2008 put the number even lower at 2%.
Since both of the above statistics are for sites in the web design industry, I looked at the statistics for 2008 for several of our clients in a variety of industries
- Printing company for financial industry: 3%
- Non-profit serving the disabled: 6%
- Business management consulting firm: 3%
- Marine exploration company: 6%
Why is this important? Size matters because increased website widths allow for the user to see more content without scrolling down the page. As you can see above, throughout a variety of industries the 800×600 screen resolution is fading into obscurity. We recommend the 1024×768 resolution to all our web design and website development clients in order to “future-proof” the sites as much as possible.
Are there larger screen resolutions coming? Of course! In fact, some 70% of our visitors have screen resolutions greater than (and not equal to) 1024×768. However, on other site reports we looked at 1024×768 is as much as half of the traffic and this resolution does not show signs of disappearing soon.
This Denver design firm calls the browser wars in favor of 1024×768!
Prioritizing your search engine marketing budget
It is becoming widely acknowledged that to succeed in the highly competitive internet world, it is necessary to optimize your site for search engines.
In a previous post we discussed our two-pronged search engine optimization (SEO) strategy: on-page and off-page optimization . There is a third prong, under search engine marketing (SEM) , called “Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC).” These three prongs comprise a complete search engine marketing strategy.
However, if you have a limited budget, how should you prioritize? In this graph we demonstrate our recommendations for a campaign with a minimum timeline of 6 months. Why 6 months or above? Using an analogy…
- Search engine optimization is like taking $100 and buying an apple tree seedling. You will need to spend time cultivating the tree so it will bear fruit. Once it does, you will have a constant and ever increasing supply of apples.
- Search engine marketing is like taking $100 and buying apples. You can buy alot of apples, and begin eating them immediately. However, when they are gone…they are gone forever.
So how does this apply to search engine marketing? Doing on-page and off-page optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (SEM) allows you to experience the best of all worlds. Pay per click gives you an immediate and measurable traffic boost, while at the same time your on-page and off-page optimization is laying the foundation for long term success. In fact, once your rankings have improved through optimization, you may no longer need to use PPC.
Have further questions about SEO optimization? Ask a leading Colorado SEO Company , eye9 Design .
Does the age of my site matter? How to fight the Google “Sandbox Effect”
As they say…”communication is the basis of every relationship.” Unfortunately in your site’s relationship with search engines, that communication is definitively one sided.
It is a given that you want Google to rank your site well. Unfortunately, Google at best only hints about what it wants from your site in order to rank it high in the SERPs (search engine results pages). That is why SEO (search engine optimization) community has closely studied different techniques to identify those that produce higher rankings.
So what about the age of your site? Does it matter?
Absolutely.
As a matter of fact, a consortium of leading SEO professionals ranked it the #4 overall factor affecting your position in the SERPs. Some SEO’s have even developed theories about the existence of a “Google Sandbox” which acts a bit like a probation period for new domains.
If you have a domain that is several years old, this should come as good news. Working with an aged domain makes our work as an seo optimization firm easier. However, if you are starting a new website, this is far from a death knoll. As a matter of fact, it emphasizes the need for effective search engine optimization.
In this article I will address in detail the following questions
- What is the Google Sandbox, and does it exist?
- How can I get out of the Google Sandbox?
If this level of detail is beyond what you are interested in pursuing, here is the bottom line: the age of your site does matter. Since the age of your site is basically beyond your control, it is even more important to address those factors you can control. We help you strategically select a set of target keywords through a database analysis, implement those keywords throughout your meta tags and content, and gain links from other websites. If you optimize a newer site, as the domain aging process takes care of itself you will have positioned yourself for success and maximum return on investment.
For those of you who desire more information…read on!
What is the Google Sandbox, and does it exist?
To start things off, here is a good definition from webpronews.com
Some programmers have viewed Google as uncomfortable to rank newer websites until they have proven their viability to exist for more than a period of “x” months. Thus the term “Sandbox Effect” applies to the idea that all new websites have their ratings placed in a holding tank until such time is deemed appropriate before a ranking can commence.
Why would Google depress the rankings of a new site in the SERPs? SoftwareMarketingResource.com provides a very plausible explanation (condensed here).
As the SEO community figured out the basic elements of Google’s ranking algorithm, inbound links, original content rich with keywords, and the proper use of anchor text, search engine spammers began to take advantage of these elements. Search engine spammers would setup websites that were in clear violation of Google’s policies with the knowledge that eventually their website would be banned from the listings…The idea for spammers was a simple one. Capitalize off of Google’s traffic for as long as they can (before they get banned), then do it all over again with a new website. The method was extremely effective and easy to implement…
To solve this problem, Google determined that it would compromise…All new websites that were launched would be put on probation. As time passed, and as the sites continued to pass any spam filters they ran, the website will not be held back from performing well in the rankings. Eventually, after quite a bit of time had passed, a site would be allowed to “leave” the sandbox and join the rest of the established websites.
This is a very logical explanation for why Google would want to use a sandbox effect, but it certainly does not prove that they do! Depending on who you read, Google has debunked or basically confirmed the existence of the sandbox effect. So what should we make of all this?
- Age matters. This has strong consensus among leading SEO professionals (”…not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines”)
- Many SEO professionals have observed, especially in competitive niches, that it can take 3-6 months or more to see real progress in the rankings. Whether this is due to a sandbox effect, or simply that newer domains key factors like lack aged backlinks…you be the judge.
How can I get out of the Google Sandbox?
The same principles apply whether you are in a probationary period (if it exists) or if you have a finely aged 10 year old domain. We help you strategically select keywords and implement them in the essential areas. This is the foundation of our seo optimization process.
Here is how it works
- You submit a list of keywords related to your website/services/products
- We run these keywords and related variants through our database of data from all the major search engines
- This analysis tells us two important things about your keywords and related variants: the amount of traffic and the level of competition
- Based on this data, and the relevance of the keywords to your site, you select a set of keywords
- From these keywords, we optimize the following tags: title, description, keywords, and alt
- We have you or your copywriter create SEO rich paragraphs for inclusion on your index page and/or landing pages
- Links…links…and more links: it is essential that you obtain links to your site from other sites (called “linkbuilding,” we are available to assist you with this)
Conclusion
So there you have it. Google will always play “hard to get” when it comes to the specifics of how domain age or any other factor affects your rankings in the SERPs. However, by following tested and proven seo optimization techniques we help position your website for success. Maximize your return on your website investment and optimize your site for search engines today!
eye9 Design is an seo optimization firm based in Denver, Colorado.
What you can do to increase your SEO rankings
Did you know you have an essential role to play in your search engine rankings?
The tips below apply whether you just had your site optimized for search engines and want some “next steps,” or you simply want some “DIY” SEO optimization ideas.
There are two essential things for you to do to ensure your website climbs its way up the search engine rankings and stays there.
- Links, Links, Links: We have taken care of the “on-page” factors by optimizing your meta tags and content. The other half of the equation is having websites linking to yours! Without both, you will have limited success. Here are some tips for getting links.
- Send individually addressed emails to your colleagues, friends, vendors, and clients. Let them know about your newly optimized site, and ask them if they would link to your site.
- Tell them what you would like the link to say. This is extremely important. Let’s say one of your top keywords is “Denver ski shop.” When you ask your friends to link to your site, say: “The words used in the link itself are important to search engines because indicates what my site is about. So please use the phrase ‘Denver ski shop’ as the link to my site http://www.example.com.”
- As a general rule, avoid link farms and paid links. Natural links from colleagues and clients are more…well, natural. Search engines are always tweaking their results to reward real, natural, quality links.
- Content, Content, Content: Create a page for each of your top few SEO terms. If “green car widgets” is one of your important terms, create a new page with an article all about your widgets. Be sure to put “green car widgets” at the beginning of the page title (the words that appear at the top of the browser). Also, mix your other related SEO keywords into the content of the page! After you have created the article, link to it from different places where the term “green car widgets” appears: the sitemap, content text, and SEO text. For an example on how to create and link to internal content, go to www.eye9design.com.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
It usually takes time for Search Engines to move you up in their rankings, especially if you have a new site and few links from other sites. In the mean time, consider using Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing from Google, Yahoo, or MSN (the ads that appear on the right hand side of the page). While your goal is eventually to have your listings in the organic results (the main content area), strategic PPC campaigns with well written ads can drive relevant traffic to your website.
Contact us today about supplementing your search engine strategy with PPC advertising.
eye9 Design is a Colorado SEO company providing SEO optimization services to our clients in Denver, Colorado and around the world.
Web 2.0…am I missing something?
Clients will ask me from time to time, with trepidation on their face: “What is web 2.0?” The underlying question is: “Am I missing something?”
Web 2.0 “refers to a perceived second-generation of Web based communities and hosted services such as social networking sites, wikis and folksonomies that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users” (Wikipedia). Sharing…collaboration…communities….are these really new? As this Wikipedia article attests, the term becomes a bit meaningless when you consider that these capabilities have all existed since the beginning of the web.
It is most helpful to think of web 2.0 as an increased emphasis on participatory websites. Think dialogue…not monologue. Have you considered how effectively your website is engaging visitors? Statistics software like Google Analytics can help you analyze which pages are most popular on your website, and which pages visitors remain on the longest.
To enhance the “stickiness” of your site and increase your return traffic, take advantage of the many community tools available today
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Wikis
Also, many corporations and organizations are effectively using websites like MySpace and Facebook to raise awareness about their services and products.
Are you missing anything with web 2.0? Only if you ignore the opportunity to engage your visitors by deploying today’s community website tools.
Speaking of collaboration…click on “Leave a comment” below and tell us what you think!
eye9 Design is a Denver web development company providing web site development to clients around the globe.
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